Aging Management of Nuclear Power Plant Containments for License Renewal (NUREG-1611)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: September 1997
Date Published: September 1997

Prepared by:
W.C. Liu, P.T. Kuo, S.S. Lee

Division of Reactor Program Management
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published its license renewal rule, Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 54, on May 8, 1995, providing the requirements for renewal of operating licenses for nuclear power plants. 10 CFR 54.21(a)(1)(i) requires an aging management review of containment structures to ensure that the effects of aging will be managed so that their intended functions will be maintained for the period of extended operation. In 1990, the Nuclear Management and Resources Council (NUMARC), now the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), submitted for NRC review, the industry reports (IRs), NUMARC Report 90–01 and NUMARC Report 90–10, addressing aging management issues associated with PWR containments and BWR containments for license renewal, respectively.

Recently, the Commission amended 10 CFR 50.55a to promulgate requirements for inservice inspection of containment structures. The final rule on § 50.55a, "Codes and Standards for Nuclear Power Plants; Subsection IWE and Subsection IWL," was published in August 1996. This rule incorporates by reference the 1992 Edition with the 1992 Addenda of Subsections IWE and IWL of Section XI, Division 1, of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code addressing the inservice inspection of metal containments/liners and concrete containments, respectively.

The purpose of this report is to reconcile the technical information and agreements resulting from the NUMARC IR reviews and the inservice inspection requirements of Subsections IWE and IWL as promulgated in § 50.55a for license renewal consideration. This report concludes that Subsections IWE and IWL of Section XI, Division 1, of the ASME Code as endorsed in § 50.55a are generally consistent with the technical information and agreements reached during the IR reviews. Specific exceptions are identified and additional evaluations and augmented inspection activities for renewal are recommended.